St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-11-10
THE PHONOGRAPH.


What MIR. Edison Says of His Invention.
My monographs L expect to see in
every business office. Their operation
is simplicity itself and cannot fail.
The merchant or clerk who wishes to
send letter has only to set the ma
chine in motion and to talk in his nat
ural voice and at the usual rate OF
speed into the receiver. When he has
finished the sheet, or "phOnOgram," as
| call it, is ready for putting into a lit
tie box made on purpose for the malls.
We are making the sheets In three slz-
es-One for letters of from SOO to lOOO
words, another size for 1000 words,
another size for 1000 words. L expect
that an arrangement may be made with
the post office authorities enabling the
phOnogram boxes to be sent at the
same rate us letter. The receiver of
il phOnOgram will put it into his appa-
ratus and the message will be given
out more clearly, more distinctly than
the best telephone message ever sent.
The tones of the voice in the two pho
nographs which l have finished are so
perfectly rendered that one can dis
tinguish between twenty different per-
sons, each one of whom has said few
that the letter may be repeated thou
sand times if necessary. The phono-
gram does not wear out by use more
over it may be filed away for 100 years
and be ready the instant it is needed.
If man dictates his will to the pho
nOgraph there will be no disputing the
authenticity of the document with
those who knew the tones of his voice
81 Il, In lIln-
nogram will be scarcely more than the
cost of ordinary letter paper. The ma
chine will read out the letter or mes
sage at the same speed with which it
was dictated. | have experimental
with device for enabling printers to
set type directly from the dIctatlOn OF
the photograph and think it will work
to IA charm. 1t is so arranged that the
printer, by touching lever with his
foot, allows five or ten words OF the
phOnOgram to be sounded if he is not
satisfied with the first hearing, he can
make it repeat the same words over
and over again until he has it In type.
For busy men who dictate great deal
for the press | am sure the photograph
will be a necessity after very little
experience. For musicians the phonO-
graph is going to do wonders, owing to
the extreme cheapness with which L
can duplicate monographs and the del
icacy with which the apparatus gives
out all musical sounds. In the early
photograph of ten years ago, which
was a very imperfect and crude affair
compared to that of to-day, it was al
ways noticed that musical sounds came
out peculiarly we'll the machine would
whistle or sing far better than 1T would
talk. This popularity of the phOnO-
graph remains; | have taken down
the music of an orchestra and the re-
suit is marvellous; each instrument cali
be perfectly distinguished, the strains
are perfectly distinct, the viOlins from
the 'cellos, the wind instruments and
the wood are perfectly heard, and even
in the notes of violin the OvertOnes
are distinct to delicate ear. 1t is 60
ing to work wonders for the benefit of
musiclOvers. A piece for any instru-
ment, for the piano or for an orchestra,
or an act, or the whole of an opera,
musical instruments and voices, can
be given out by the photograph with
beauty of tone and distinctness past
belief, and the duplicating apparatus
for phonograms is SO cheap an affair
that the price of music for the phOnO-
graph will be scarcely worth consider
ing. AS the phOnogram will be practi
cally understandable by ordinary use:
such music can be played over and
over again. My first phonograph, as
YOU remember, consisted simply of a
roller carrying the foil and provided
with diaphragm point properly ar
ranged to scrape or indent the foil.
The roller was turned by hand. In the
new instrument there is far more COM
plication, but altogether different re-
suits. My propelling machinery con-
sists of small electric motor, run by
very few cells. Strange to say, L
have found more difficulty in getting
motor to suit me than in any other
part of the apparatus. | tried various
kinds of clock work and spring motors
but found them untrustwOrthy and
noisy. The motors | am now making
are absolutely steady and nOiseless.
Cuba has lost 81 200, 900 by floods.